1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to signal processors. Specifically the present invention relates to processors used for receiving, processing, and displaying signals for infrared imaging systems and tracking devices.
2. Description of the Related Art
Infrared imaging and tracking systems are used in a variety of applications ranging from monitoring ocean temperature patterns to guiding heat seeking missiles. These systems contain heat sensors for detecting thermal energy and electronics for processing resulting thermal patterns.
Certain features such as special stabilization modes, contrast enhancement, and electronic zoom may be required for some applications and not required for others. Accordingly, any special requirements were typically met by custom designing and building the signal processing circuitry. This was expensive due to the labor cost of the custom design and assembly and the parts cost.
Hence, a need exists in the art for a versatile, flexible signal processing architecture for infrared sensors which may be inexpensively optimized for a particular application.